Iconic racing car livery | Two

Racing car livery design is an essential part of motor sport imagery and motorsport history – in this series of blogs we will feature some of the most iconic racing car livery designs ever to take to the track. The featured liveries and designs are not in a ‘top ten’ or in any order of merit… purely our choice of the most powerful graphic designs in automotive competition history. Some are well known to motor racing fans around the World but many of those we will feature have become ‘household’ names – recognised by the brand image they portray more than the achievements on track… delivering the sponsor’s logos into the homes and minds of people who have never and, more than likely, will never be a willing spectator. The colours and shapes that adorn the vehicles and athletes in motor racing are the modern equivalent of heralds and crests of the joust – striking, memorable and unique to each team/sponsor. To some a garish high speed billboard – to others a beautiful harmony of colour, design and speed.

Gulf

Gulf Petroleum – orange and pale blue with classic ‘racing stripe’. Synonymous with the Le Mans Ford GT40, Porsche 917 and more recently with Aston Martin is one of the very few brands to be locked into motor sport history and to reach legend status in Hollywood. The Porsche 917, iconic in it’s own right, was the car used by Steve McQueen in the movie; Le Mans.

This is another extraordinary illustration of how powerful (and valuable) branding and graphic design is in sports marketing.